My Reflections on Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo XIV (Photo from Wikipedia)

The media in recent days has been all over the fact that Pope Leo XIV comes from a family with Black Roots. I am not surprised about this news. I first heard this from a CNN news host that the new pope came from her area in New Orleans. The second time I heard this before it became a news item was when Co-host of the CBS Morning Show, Gayle King interviewed his oldest brother, and she asked him about it. He replied that his grandparents came from Haiti initially, but he didn’t know much about it. As a columnist and historian, I am not surprised by any of this.

I have been writing about people in this country passing for white for many years. My recent articles in this column on the “Three African Popes” gave much documentation on this subject. In 2008, I wrote a book entitled “War ren Gamaliel Harding, one of America’s Black Presidents.” I have a chapter in my book called, “Passing for White.” This went on in this country for many years. I also wrote an article entitled, “Several U.S. presidents were men of color.” My article on the Black popes also was written with complete documentation especially from a book called Liber Pontificalis. This book lists all of the Popes of the Catholic church with their years of service. My book on the African roots of the composer Beethoven was published in 2007. It also had documentation of the facts of his life.

If you heard Pope Leo in his comments, when he was elected, spoke in Latin, Span ish, Italian. What stood out for me was his fluent Latin. In my article on the African popes, the first one to use Latin and make it an integral part of the Catholic church was the African Pope Victor I. He was the first one to use Latin and make it part of the church rituals. As a genealo gist I have a personal story to tell. I have been researching my family history for more than 25 years. I found out that my great-grandmother was listed as a Mulatto in the 1850 Slave Schedules. A Mulatto is a person who had a white parent and a Black parent.

In the coming weeks I will share some additional infor mation about the topic of individuals with Black roots. I want to wish Pope Leo XIV well in his new position of the Catholic Church. He is following in the footsteps of Pope Francis, with his message of peace, unity, and concern for the poor. I feel that he has been selected just in time, as this world is in chaos. He is a messenger of peace with a global reach all around the world.